Search

The subject of mental health has been discussed for some time in the literature on Australian Aboriginal peoples, although the volume of this work has been relatively small. This literature can be separated into two main approaches. The first has been concerned with documenting and analyzing disorders that are culturally specific to a particular group. The second, more recent body of literature understands mental health issues as resulting from a combination of factors related to the effects of colonization, such as loss of land, poverty, and the destruction of families. This literature is often aimed at diagnosis and the provision of appropriate services for Indigenous people without a comprehensive ethnographic understanding of the cultural specificities of certain mental health disorders. Although mental health problems are discussed, such as suicide, depression, and anxiety, little analysis is undertaken of how such states are locally experienced and understood. This paper reports the complexities involved in understanding mental health from the perspective of youth in a remote Aboriginal community in northern Australia. We argue that it is necessary to understand mental health within the broader context of the lives of Indigenous youth and, in particular, the interaction between their marginalization from participating in the opportunities that globalization offers with issues related to poverty, substance misuse, and specific cultural beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential rehabilitation centres are a popular form of treatment for Indigenous Australians suffering from alcohol and drug misuse; however, there has been very little substantive research and evaluation in this area. Based on long-term ethnographic research, this study examines the informal aspects of a treatment programme in an Indigenous residential alcohol and drug rehabilitation service. Evaluation of such services often focuses on treatment length and/or treatment level obtained as key indicators of success. This study suggests that 'treatment' may be more complex and layered with multiple levels of meaning, which may not necessarily be captured in some evaluation designs. For the residential rehabilitation centre discussed in this paper, oscillating periods of mutual support and discipline have an important therapeutic function. Standard measures of treatment length and level obtained are meaningless without incorporating understanding of this process. This paper presents some of the ethnographic findings, alongside some of the evaluation implications of doing this kind of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an account of various unsuccessful efforts to combat petrol-sniffing in River Town, a remote Aboriginal settlement in north Australia. The paper provides insights into the dynamics of remote Aboriginal settlements, highlighting the dissonance between non-Aboriginal service providers and the Aboriginal residents. Attention is drawn to the need for more involvement of Aboriginal people in policy making and program implementation. The paper suggests also that there is a need for adequate resources to resolve the problems experienced in settlements such as River Town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]